


A crown of petals and flowers (for a boy of flesh and bones)

by Blueishfood



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Miraculous Ladybug Fusion, F/M, Fanfiction, MLB, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:20:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24574462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blueishfood/pseuds/Blueishfood
Summary: "Their eyes met, and he knew her answer. In that moment she seemed calm, almost at ease before him. “Close your eyes, or I might still be tempted to steal them with me.”Adrien wasn’t entirely sure if it was a joke."
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 10
Kudos: 37





	A crown of petals and flowers (for a boy of flesh and bones)

**Author's Note:**

> Words: 1,9 K
> 
> A/N: This might be the weirdest story I've written yet. It is a story based on a folk tale/fairy-tale creature, so if you get confused, read the end notes for an explanation. 

Adrien was standing in the middle of a wildflower field when he first saw her. He had been on his way to bring down the cattle, when suddenly, only a few meters in front of him stood a beautiful girl. Her long dark hair swayed in the wind. It rippled and glinted like a dark river, and she had not braided it like tradition demanded.

He stood for a second in complete silence, and watched her happily dance between his cattle. She petted them like dogs and sang to them a beautiful song filled with words he could not make sense of. Her long white dress looked like something made for celebration, but for some reason, she had ventured further up in the mountains than anyone did on a workday.

He froze when she noticed him. Adrien was sure he looked pathetic. Like some kind of lovesick fool, open mouth and wide eyes.

She giggled. Her laughter dipped and bounced off the large stone walls on their sides, the echo seemingly having even more fun than her. Adrien was reminded of the tiny river in his back yard, chuckling happily as it wove past his feet. He gave her a small grin.

“What are you doing so far up in the mountain, fair maiden?” The girl blinked at him, her long lashes bouncing off her round cheeks. Then she beamed at him.

“Conversing with your darling Betty, of course.” She placed her hand on his best dairy cow. Adrien lifted an eyebrow, and snorted,

“My ‘darling’ Betty is a cow,” he said, waiting for her to tell him she was joking. The young woman simply nodded.

“She is indeed,” she tipped her head to the right, “and she thinks you’ve been feeding her far too little for the work she’s doing.”

Adrien laughed, and figured he had time to spare. He sat down on a large rock and watched as she started picking the wildflowers growing beside her bare feet.

“You could come with me and feed her yourself,” he smiled, almost instantly regretting his framing of words. That sounded a little-

“I’m afraid you’re being far too forward, Mister.” The woman blushed, bowing her head, she hid her cheeks behind her curtain of hair. She fiddled with the flowers in her hands, weaving them into a petite crown before putting it on Betty’s head.

“Apologies,” he said quickly, attempting to smooth it over with a little laugh, “I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Adrien.” He gave a little bow, and the woman beamed. She had two tiny dimples by the tip of her lips. “May I ask what you call yourself?”

She bowed down, once again picking flowers and weaving them together.

“Names hold power, Mister,” she said, and left it at that. Adrien assumed she was a private person. There were many of those hidden between the fjords.

He decided to be bold either way. Something was spurring him on this early morning, a longing, a yearning to get the hand of this woman he had just met. He would have found it peculiar, but Adrien had always known he carried strong emotions.

“Miss, there are going to be festivities later, in Mr Johannsson’s barn. Would you like to accompany me?” The woman let out a small delighted fit of laughter, before she turned to him, and placed yet another crown in his soft curls. Adrien felt the hair rise on the back of his neck as her slender fingers brushed against his forehead.

“I would love to,” she smiled, “but I cannot.”

“Are you too tired?” Adrien wondered if he was pushing his limits. She had been kind, open and inviting, but he needed to know more about her. “I haven’t seen you before, are you traveling from afar? _Bjørgvin_ perhaps?” The woman smiled, and Adrien wasn’t sure if he imagined the pity on her lips. “My aunt has a spare bed if you need one. She lives alone.”

She sighed; her smile had now fully disappeared. Adrien let a small frown tug at his eyebrows.

“Do you not see it?” she asked, a gentle hand cradling his jaw, “Do you not see what I am?”

Adrien leaned into her touch until he caught her words. He leaned back a little, looking up at her fully.

Her dress flowed in the wind, her hair wild and a stark contrast against the light colour. His gaze took in her face, her light blue eyes that could drown him if he let them, her perfect plump lips, her rosy cheeks, and the light dusting of freckles that decorated her nose.

“You’re beautiful,” he said, slightly out of breath, and she rolled her eyes.

Taking a small step forward, she leaned towards him, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear before she said; “I am the beautiful woman you found in the mountain.” She blinked her bluebell eyes slowly, as if willing him to understand. “Ring any bells?” Adrien took her in once more, feeling slightly dazed, until her words registered in his brain and he jerked away from her, almost breaking a bone or two.

His eyes shot down to her legs, or what was hiding behind her legs. Gently flowing with the folds of her dress, he caught a glimpse of a dark black tail.

Adrien shot to his feet. He stumbled backwards over the rock he had been sitting on, trying to get as much distance between him and a creature of the underworld as he possibly could. She laughed.

“What do you want from me, Hulder?”

The wight giggled, and Adrien couldn’t for the life of him understand how such a lovely creature could be the doom of so many men.

“It was you who asked me to a dance, was it not?” she dragged her fingers through her hair, and it reflected the sunlight in a way suddenly foreign and unknown to his eyes, “I like dancing.”

“I just want my cattle,” Adrien said, trying to keep the wavering fear from his voice, “we can part ways as friends.”

“Why should we do that?” She danced a few steps closer to him, and Adrien leaned back where he sat. “I get nothing out of the agreement, and you get your freedom.” The sneer in her voice was unmistakable. She thought he was trying to trick her.

Adrien let out a silent breath, trying another approach to make her more compliable.

“Why do you bring men into your mountain?” He asked, his hands scratching against the rough stone surface as he tried to keep his distance from her flowing form.

She stopped short, staring at him for a second like she had never thought of such a question before she answered, “It is my nature”, and continued closing in on him.

Adrien held up a hand, stopping her mere centimetres from his skin. “Let me leave, and I’ll make it up to you.”

She stopped reaching for his wrist, her body language faltering just slightly. “How?” She asked, and Adrien’s mind raced for an answer to the same question.

“You are curious, are you not?” he said, a little too quickly to be considered a thought-out sentence. “Of the world on the outside.”

“Not _that_ curious.” She reached for him again, this time catching his wrist with her left hand while she used the other to brush away his bangs from his eyes. “You’re a gorgeous example of your species, I’m not sure I want to let you go.”

“Wait!” he gasped, even though he wasn’t entirely sure why he was fighting the most beautiful woman he had ever seen on living his entire life with her. “I have many things to offer, see,” he emptied his pockets, incredibly happy that he had forgotten to clear them of coins and rubbish before he started his day.

“I already own coins,” she gestured to a few wooden nails, “people lose these all the time, and those-“ -she pointed to his collection of small colourful rocks- “are worthless, I own thousands that are far more beautiful.”

Frantically Adrien continued emptying his pockets, looking inside every nook and cranny for something that would matter to her. The hulder simply snorted at his effort, before she finally crossed her arms, and levelled him with a cold stare. 

“Just admit it. You have nothing of- oh”, she stopped short when she spotted it. Adrien froze in the middle of his actions, watching her. When she reached for it, the item was something simple. A thin needle, one of simple steel, rested in her palm like it was something precious. “Where did you…” She didn’t seem to need an answer as she admired the tiny tool. Only when Adrien tried to inch away from her did she look up.

Their eyes met, and he knew her answer. In that moment she seemed calm, almost at ease before him. “Close your eyes, or I might still be tempted to steal them with me.”

Adrien wasn’t entirely sure if it was a joke.

She blinked, much like an animal coming out of a daze, and the moment was gone. The look in her eyes once again became wild, and he watched as the nature inside her battled for dominance. She stared at him, then behind him, to his village, and took off.

Adrien didn’t comprehend it when she left, and later he couldn’t explain the disappearance. For though he was certain he watched her leave, he could not for the life of him remember in which direction or where to.

He knew, however, that she was no longer in his presence when the sweet aura around him was blown away with the wind. Like a spell had been lifted, he opened his eyes and the entire exchange seemed like a dream.

But he knew it wasn’t, for a needle had gone missing from his right breast pocket.

The second Adrien got home; he placed his cattle where they were supposed to be, and made his way through his too large house. He stopped before his late mother’s chambers.

It was a small room, one that had once upon a time been decorated with blossoms, branches, and rocks. None were left now. It had been converted into a guest room, the door unlocked only for the occasional missionary or priest that arrived in town. A few had stayed over since the death of his Mother, but ever since her funeral, Adrien had tried his best to stay out.

But privacy, he thought to himself as he opened the creaking door, was overrated.

He made a beeline for the chest in the far-right corner. In it, his mother’s belongings were placed. There were a few items which many could benefit from, yet Adrien couldn’t force himself to sell them. Luckily, there was only one thing he was after this evening.

When he later made his way through the thick forest in broad daylight, Adrien sent a quick prayer to God, asking him to pass on his apologies to Emelie Agreste. Her sewing kit would be given away for a good cause.

He put the flower crown by the small wooden box. A debt repaid, a bond severed and a moment of fear nowhere near forgotten. 

A month had passed, when Adrien drunkenly stumbled through his door, rubbing his sore palms. The day had been long, and while the dancing didn't last for the same amount of time, it had been just as tiring. More than once Adrien convinced himself that Nino had somehow made a deal with the devil for his musical abilities. But if his friend made a deal with the devil, Adrien had been cursed by him, to never be able to have a second to himself. Rachel, his great aunt, had decided it was time for him to get married. That was the only explanation Adrien had for the girls that kept falling at his feet. That, and the weird 'knowing' looks she kept giving him.

His exhausted mind didn’t notice the glint of gold on his nightstand that evening. But the next morning, he would wake to see a needle of pure gold and a beautiful rock. Beside the two gifts rested a single note, folded and worn, the paper clearly outdated. The message was written in rough handwriting, and yet the words were indistinguishable.

_"Power is overrated,_

_-Marinette"_

**Author's Note:**

> A hulder is a female creature from old Norwegian folktales. The hulder looks like a young woman but she is what someone might call a wight. In the stories she usually has long blonde hair and is incredibly beautiful, but she has a cow tail and likes to trick unwed men into coming inside the mountain with her where she will marry them.
> 
> In some fairy tales the hulder is a dark and evil creature, who makes the life of men difficult. Sometimes she also steals children or switches them with her own. If a young child had a sickness or a disability, the people often believed them to be a child of the hulder.
> 
> However, in other stories, the hulder is a creature who lives in peace with the nature around her. She is good with cattle and animals and is known to help young women, and those who treat her with respect.
> 
> This story is based on a tale my great grandmother told grandpa who told me. Once she left her sewing needle outside for a night, and she forgot to bring it in. A few weeks later, she found it, but the tip had been turned in to gold. She believed until she died that this was the hulder who had borrowed her needle and made it into gold as a thanks.
> 
> *Bjørgvin is the old name for Bergen


End file.
